Everyday someone in America becomes a victim of car theft, vehicle burglary, or damage to a car from thieves striping parts from the car for sale to chop shops.  And in fact, the numbers from a recent study indicate that many more than just one American per day becomes a victim of car theft of some sort, the statistics show that a car is stolen or otherwise burglarized every thirty three seconds. 

Car theft is one of the most regular forms of theft in the United States.  It is, actually, the number one form of property theft in America, costing citizens of the country over seven and a half billion dollars per year is loses from stole or stripped cars.

Affecting Car Insurance

Not only does car theft literally rob a person of their possessions, but it can also cause a person’s car insurance rates to increase by up to a couple hundred dollars per year.  In this way, car thieves are affecting everyone’s car insurance premiums because as car thefts continue to rise so to do the rates that car insurance companies charge people to insure their vehicles.

To help protect your own car, and to help lower everyone’s car insurance premiums by lowering the number of stolen or damaged cars, vehicle owners can choose to follow these safety guidelines concerning car theft:

• Always lock the doors of the car while it is parked.
• Install a GPS tracker, available at most car parts stores, to the vehicle to track the car if it is stolen.
• Never leave a spare key in the vehicle.
• Remove valuable items or possessions from plain view inside the car.  Hide them instead.
• Park in high pedestrian traffic areas and in well-lit areas at night. 

Photo credit: http://www.theguardian.com